Could work. Nothing great, but no great risk, either. Just better not be the last pitching move they make this offseason. Normally I'd bitch about a move like this, but with the offseason they've had so far, I'm keeping my mouth shut till everything is all played out.

Yeah, just to clarify, I don't mind the move at all. Kinda like it, in fact. Just hope it doesn't signal that we're definitely not getting Marcum or Lohse. I guess when we know the contract value, we ought to have a better idea of the big picture.

Solid move. When it's the least interesting or impactful move of the offseason, it's been a good offseason.

googleeph2 wrote:Not looking for an argument, but acquiring starting pitchers leaps over any position player on the impact scale, imo.

Oh yeah, I get you. I was meaning more from the standpoint of PR and getting the "average" fan to notice. A big name signing like Swisher does more in that department and fires up the fanbase. But strengthening the rotation should contine to be the main prerogative, I agree. Still want to see if they can spin Cabrera into a good young pitcher. If Choo got us Bauer, then Cabrera ought to be highly valuable, too. Then we'd really be talking.

Love the signing. Solid arm that misses bats. 4 pitch pitcher. Durable. Will settle in behind Masterson and Ewwwbaldo. Hopefully Bauer in the 4 hole and the best of Kazmir/Carrasco/Kluber/McAllister/Jeanmar in the 5 hole.

"It's like dating a woman who hates you so much she will never break up with you, even if you burn down the house every single autumn." ~ Chuck Klosterman on Browns fans relationship with the Browns

Solid move, depending on how much we're paying him. Myers has seven years of 30+ starts, was part of a World Series winning team, and has stayed out of the news for the most part since the 2007 altercation with a reporter. Best part - he doesn't walk many guys. 2.9 BB/9. That helps him work deeper into games, which should help. He picked us over a handful of teams, including San Diego, where he could have had a really strong year and gotten a better deal next season thanks to their pitcher-friendly conditions.

Really good offseason for Antonetti so far. I think Myers will be an excellent #4 starter, assuming we sign Marcum, Lohse, or maybe one of the other guys out there. I'd still like us to very seriously go after Joe Saunders. I think a southpaw would give the rotation some more balance. I doubt he signs anywhere but Baltimore, though, since he's from that area.

Our interest came out of nowhere. Saw him linked to Minnesota and San Diego and then we just swooped in and signed him. Kind of surprised.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

leadpipe wrote:If he comes in with his head on straight, there's a real good chance he'll be the best pitcher on the team.

You aren't a fourth starter unless there's 3 better than you.

Not sure I see one.

No, but I don't think he walks in and becomes the #1. I agree with you that there aren't three better than him. I still think Masterson's your #1. Hoping Marcum is #2. Saunders/Myers would be #3. McAllister/Jimenez #4 and #5.

He'll probably be the #3, depending on how the rest of the offseason goes. I think he'd be an excellent #4. A good #3. A below average #2.

BTW, I kind of expect Bauer to start the year in Columbus. He's only thrown 82 innings in AAA and 156 total in the minors. I could be wrong, but I don't think they'll rush him along at all.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

British_Pharaoh wrote:The only major criticism is the number of long balls he gives up.

You forgot the fact he is a wife beater.

However, he is a solid #3-4 starter. Veteran inning eater that will provide some stability in the rotation. I am all for it.

I still would like to see us grab Marcum though.

Your wish may be granted

FOX Sports' Jon Paul Morosi reports that the Indians "have had dialogue" with Shaun Marcum.Morosi says "it's not clear yet" whether Cleveland's signing of Brett Myers will affect a potential pursuit of Marcum. The Indians have room in their rotation for another addition, but it remains to be seen if they have enough cash to make it happen. Marcum has also drawn interest from the Royals, Twins and Padres.

Rotoworld

I'll bet that we do have the cash. If Myers was going to cost too much so that it took us out of the Marcum (better pitcher) hunt I'm betting we wouldn't have signed him. I'm betting we signed Myers to a contract that allows us to add a pitcher of Marcum's calibre.

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"

I'd say that's a pretty good deal for what we're getting! Doesn't leave much room in the budget for a guy like Marcum unless there's another trade (Perez?), but Myers was probably Plan B to Marcum all along, anyway.

Plus, since Myers can relieve, he could bump into the bullpen when some of our young starters (Bauer and Carrasco) are ready to push their way in if everyone else is pitching well (big "if" for Ubaldo).

1Perry wrote:Perhaps we will see the unthinkable and the Indians spend a little more than expected. The central is still pretty weak outside of Detroit. A little more might go a long ways.

Issue being "a little" for Marcum would likely be more than what they paid Myers and I'm not sure they're going there. Although if they think Bauer and Carrasco are close and will contribute in a bigger way next season I can see them pushing the envelope this season a bit more as a bridge to 2014.

I loooove Carrasco, but I think it's too soon after surgery to expect anything more than extended rehab (and I do understand, nobody is). I think Bauer makes the staff with a decent spring. I just think they'll feel his confidence will get him thru tough stretches. Combined with his stuff.

Someone will falter of course, though, and it seems clear they know they need more (if kicking the tires on marcum is an indication). As said above, Myers can go to the pen if he's not getting it done.

Without a tangible reason, I think Masterson will bounce back. Francona loves him, for whatever that is worth.

Is there any chance Belcher could return? Does it matter to the staff? I lost track of what happened with him. Are there any thoughts here on this new pitching coach, Mickey Callaway? All I know is he was an MLB pitcher, and has been the Indians' minor league pitching coordinator after doing some coaching.

googleeph2 wrote:I loooove Carrasco, but I think it's too soon after surgery to expect anything more than extended rehab (and I do understand, nobody is). I think Bauer makes the staff with a decent spring. I just think they'll feel his confidence will get him thru tough stretches. Combined with his stuff.

Someone will falter of course, though, and it seems clear they know they need more (if kicking the tires on marcum is an indication). As said above, Myers can go to the pen if he's not getting it done.

Without a tangible reason, I think Masterson will bounce back. Francona loves him, for whatever that is worth.

Is there any chance Belcher could return? Does it matter to the staff? I lost track of what happened with him. Are there any thoughts here on this new pitching coach, Mickey Callaway? All I know is he was an MLB pitcher, and has been the Indians' minor league pitching coordinator after doing some coaching.

Carrasco will probably be on an innings limit, but that doesn't mean he won't be able to throw effective innings. He was sitting comfortably in the high-90s during his rehab stint with Akron last year, so I don't see the elbow effecting his overall performance in 2013.

Belcher is gone. Callaway is a good guy, the young pitchers in the system always had good things to say about him. That being said, let's not expect him to suddenly turn Ubaldo into a dominant #1 again or anything crazy like that; he'll do a solid job with what he has but like all ML pitching coaches is limited by the tools at his disposal. I'm actually really interested to see how he and Bauer get along.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves-----Abe Lincoln

Let me tell you, if any of you douchebag empty headed stuffed suit nanny politicians tries to fuck with my bacon, I’m going after you like a crazed chimpanzee on bath salts. -----Lars

I just got tipped off that there's going to be a press conference tomorrow at 4 PM. Did not sound at all like it would be just to introduce Brett Myers. Maybe Marcum and Myers. Or Myers and a trade that has been made that is awaiting physicals.

God I can't wait till April.

"It's like dating a woman who hates you so much she will never break up with you, even if you burn down the house every single autumn." ~ Chuck Klosterman on Browns fans relationship with the Browns

swerb wrote:I just got tipped off that there's going to be a press conference tomorrow at 4 PM. Did not sound at all like it would be just to introduce Brett Myers. Maybe Marcum and Myers. Or Myers and a trade that has been made that is awaiting physicals.

God I can't wait till April.

If that's the script then I'm going to be very excited for 2013 baseball.Although it will probably just be unveiling Myers and Swisher as his deal also becomes official, just to let us down hard.

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"

googleeph2 wrote:Good stuff Al. How was Carrasco's control? Were any differences noted in his stuff, pre- and post- surgery?

Fastball command was there. He didn't really have to throw his secondary stuff in the inning I saw (only threw a dozen pitches or so) but I watched him warming up and his breaking stuff was pretty sloppy. That's of course expected after the long layoff, and I was just happy to see the fastball velo/command.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves-----Abe Lincoln

Let me tell you, if any of you douchebag empty headed stuffed suit nanny politicians tries to fuck with my bacon, I’m going after you like a crazed chimpanzee on bath salts. -----Lars

googleeph2 wrote:Just curious/interested: how good have you become at watching a bullpen session and guessing the velocity?

How good are scouts in general at this? I've wondered this before. You guys are pretty good at that, I'd guess- do they just use the gun to confirm?

(also: trying not to get too hyped about the PC!!)

I can ballpark it within 5-7 MPH pretty well, but that's honestly one of the last things I'm looking at when I watch a bullpen session. I look to see what a guy is working on, what the pitching coach is talking to him about between pitches, how he takes/incorporates instruction, how he works with his catcher etc. Things you can't see in game situations. If it's the first time I'm seeing a guy live, I don't even watch the ball for the first 10-15 pitches; I stand to the side and just watch the delivery to see how consistent he is, if it's clean and repeatable etc. Then I try and stand behind him to watch the individual pitches and how they move (or don't move in some cases, like Hagadone).

Velo is more important as far as the change in seperation between fastball and secondary stuff. It's cool to see Trey Haley light up the gun with a few 99 MPH fastballs in a row, but that's stuff I can easily get in game situations when I can't stand wherever I want and watch a guy throw. The gun tells you the difference between 96 and 99, but that's far less important than most of the other stuff.

swerb wrote:I just got tipped off that there's going to be a press conference tomorrow at 4 PM. Did not sound at all like it would be just to introduce Brett Myers. Maybe Marcum and Myers. Or Myers and a trade that has been made that is awaiting physicals.

God I can't wait till April.

What's odd is the Subject line in Bart Swain's email. The email is titled "Probability".

That's it.

The body of the email advises that:

Please keep your afternoon open tomorrow. Thinking 4PM you will want to come down and visit the Press Interview Room at the ballpark. Details in the morning, hopefully 11am ish.

I've been staying out of most of the offseason discussion because I'm just not sure what to make of anything yet.

That being said, the sale of STO did help clarify a lot of grey areas for me. I'm now officially excited for spring training. I'm still not jumping on the Shapiro/Antonetti Bandwagon, but I'm an Indians fan and I'm liking more moves than I'm disliking.

Not all that bad considering we've had wives basically playing for/sitting on the DL for us the last 3-4 years. Candid remark, of course, but it does eeem like Tribe is after personality and putting butts in seats and not saving a dime on Mike Rouses.

Having Brad Mills on the coaching staff makes me feel better about the Meyers signing. Mills managed him in Houston, and if there were locker room or performance issues, I'm sure he'd have voiced those to Francona.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves-----Abe Lincoln

Let me tell you, if any of you douchebag empty headed stuffed suit nanny politicians tries to fuck with my bacon, I’m going after you like a crazed chimpanzee on bath salts. -----Lars

swerb wrote:I just got tipped off that there's going to be a press conference tomorrow at 4 PM. Did not sound at all like it would be just to introduce Brett Myers. Maybe Marcum and Myers. Or Myers and a trade that has been made that is awaiting physicals.

God I can't wait till April.

What's odd is the Subject line in Bart Swain's email. The email is titled "Probability".

That's it.

The body of the email advises that:

Please keep your afternoon open tomorrow. Thinking 4PM you will want to come down and visit the Press Interview Room at the ballpark. Details in the morning, hopefully 11am ish.

Have to give them credit. If they can add a Marcum now, this offseason has been about as good as you can ask for. Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome at this point because the other ones have been so putrid, but whatever. It's nice to see them being proactive. I still don't think it's enough to seriously challenge Detroit but anything that improves our chances for relevant baseball is fine by me.

Large caveat: If these contracts are thrown in our faces in two years as restricting the payroll too much, I retract my compliments.

"Well then I guess there's only one thing left to do...win the whole, f***in', thing."- Jake Taylor